Published July 30, 2010
Google autosuggest speaks truth.
Sen. John Kerry does not have a history of explaining things well.
Kerry probably did nothing wrong when he bought a yacht, tax-free, in Rhode Island, but he allowed the story to spiral out of control. The Boston Herald led with the “sails tax” story for five days.
Kerry sat down with the Globe for 45 minutes to set the record straight. But still his story makes no sense to me. Here’s the (condensed) timeline as I understand it:
- Kerry buys a boat and moors her in Rhode Island, avoiding taxes.
- The Herald breaks the story.
- Kerry flees reporters. “Can I get out of here?” Oops.
- Kerry’s office makes a non-statement: “He will absolutely pay any and all taxes that he is found to owe.”
- Kerry voluntarily cuts a check to the the commonwealth for about $500,000, “whether owed or not.”
- Kerry says he’d planned to pay taxes all along, once he took possession of the boat.
As Media Nation blogger Dan Kennedy (@dankennedy_nu) noted earlier this week: “The Herald broke the story last Friday, but give Kerry credit: it is he who has figured out how to keep it alive.”
Today on Morning Edition, Tufts poli sci professor Jeff Berry said the damage is done.
“He seems to have gone out of his way to prove that his reputation of being aloof and disconnected from ordinary citizens is actually true, and emphatically so. It’s not just the tax. … but that he bought a yacht worth $7 million at a time when Massachusetts residents are really suffering.”